Xmas 2011

Merry Happy Everyone! 

Holiday Letter 2011

Our sailboat themed Xmas tree

Official Holiday Letter 2011
Summary of 2010 and 2011 (missed last year)

Please read the following and circle the appropriate answers - honor system for grading (no need to respond or return answers to us)

In 2010 - Tom and Sabrina...
1.  Sold their Catalina 30 s/v Distant Drum
2.  Bought their first bluewater sailboat - a Caliber 40 LRC
3.  Named their new sailboat Honey Ryder
4.  All of the above

In 2010 - Tom and Sabrina...
1.  Sailed s/v Honey Ryder from Ft Walton FL to Panama City FL
2.  Sailed s/v Honey Ryder from Panama City FL across the Gulf of Mexico, thru the Keys and up to Brunswick GA in 7 days 19 hrs
3.  Enjoyed getting to know s/v Honey Ryder
4.  All of the above

In 2010 and 2011 - Tom and Sabrina....
1.  Sailed s/v Honey Ryder to Savannah twice and Charleston
2.  Sailed 1800 total nautical miles on s/v Honey Ryder
3.  Met many interesting and unique people in travels with s/v Honey Ryder
4.  All of the above

In 2010 and 2011 - Tom and Sabrina.....
1.  Became certified ASA Sailing Instructors - working for Kansas City Sailing
2.  Taught Intro to Sailing, ASA Basic Keelboat and Private lessons on Lake Perry KS
3.  Enjoyed meeting all the various students and sharing their passion for sailing
4.  All of the above

In 2010 and 2011 - Tom's appraisal firm...
1.  Experienced a slowing in business
2.  Saw continued foreclosures/workout orders
3.  Lumbered through the required new appraisal forms that greatly slow their workflow
4.  All of the above

In 2011 - Tom....
1.  Purchased a foreclosure house w/his business partner to rehab
2.  Worked almost every evening April - July to rehab this house
3.  Sold it at the end of September for asking price
4.  All of the above

In 2011 - Sabrina's career....
1.  Has continued with WKFS as an account executive
2.  Covers customers in 2/3 the state of Missouri
3.  Survived layoffs
4.  All of the above


Tom and Sabrina.....
1.  Wish all our family, friends and acquaintances the very best
2.  Hope for more tolerance and understanding in the world
3.  Look forward to the 2012 horizon and beyond
4.  All of the above

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Baking Day - more learning

Early on before we completely trashed her kitchen

Sailing Sista Margie is a fabulous cook and wonderful baker on top of being a kick ass sailor chick.  She agreed to teach me some of her baking secrets.  I used to bake when I was younger but the last 20 or so years I have gotten away from anything other than quick breads and mixes.  I had memories of baking being a precise science - so not me.  Toss a in a pinch of this and glob of that, is more my style
Margie's kitchen is well equipped and good size, perfect for our day of baking.

Rising

I showed up around 9am and we got started immediately.  First up - Sourdough Baguettes.  Margie had the starter already going from 3 days prior.  Starter -fyi shall be called The Beast going forward...as in "feed the beast."  We let that batch rise and got started on the Fast French Bread or Rolls.

The sourdough baguettes

We experiment as we went.  I used all purpose flour and Margie bread flour or combo.  Some experimentation was a result of someone (me) not reading the recipe correctly.  Turns out you can deviate some when baking whether on purpose or not.  Whew!  I did it all by hand, Margie used her food processor on at least one recipe.

The Fast French Rolls shaped and ready for baking

By this time we had dirtied a fair amount of dishes, floured the floor and ourselves and run off Margie's hubby, Sea Salt and the dog!  But there was no stopping us.

There wasn't a dish left clean by the time we were done

With the second batch rising, we dove into baking project #3 - Pumpkin Scones.  I put cinnamon chips and chopped crystallized ginger in my pumpkin scones.  Margie opted for dark chocolate and cinnamon chips in hers.  The last baking project was Basic English Scones.  Margie put currents in hers.  I left mine plain for various jam toppings later.

Right to left - Basic English Scone, with currents and Pumpkin

We continued along with all four baking projects, punching down the risen dough, shaping baguettes, loafs, rolls and the such and baking it all off.  There was only a short break for lunch and then back at it. 

Covered to rise again - dishes await us

Of course laughter and stories were present throughout.  When we had finally cleaned and dried the last of the dirty dishes and pulled the last baked good out of the oven, we collapsed on the kitchen stools with a bottle of white wine and begin sampling it all. 

Fruits of our labor or is that bread of our labor?

Simply YUMMY!

The difference between melted butter on top or not

It was such an enjoyable day.  I am excited to try out a few of these recipes at home and on s/v Honey Ryder.  Thank you to my dear friend Margie!